RUB clinicians: very good results with the BLADE method
For the first time, Bochum clinicians have been able to show on the basis of a large sample, that it is possible to examine children's heads in the MRI scanner without general anaesthesia or other medical sedation. In many cases it was sufficient to prepare the young patients for the examination in an age-appropriate manner in order to take away their fear of the tube. And the results speak for themselves: of the 2461 image sequences recorded with 326 patients, the participating radiologists classified 97 percent as "diagnostically relevant". At the same time, through his study, the associate professor Dr. Christoph M. Heyer (BG Bergmannsheil University Hospital, Bochum) has been able to demonstrate for the first time the value of the so-termed BLADE sequences for the comprehensive examination of children in the MRI scanner. The study has just been published in the current issue 11/2012 of the journal "RöFo - Fortschritte auf dem Gebiet der Röntgenstrahlen und der bildgebenden Verfahren".
Institutes and practices shun making the effort
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a radiation-free process today plays a key role within paediatric diagnostic radiology imaging. It is indispensable when it comes to depicting the central nervous system of children. Although the advantages of MRI over other test methods are sufficiently well known, many institutions and practices shy away from using it with young children. On the one hand, they assume that the children will not keep still enough to achieve sufficient image quality for diagnosis. On the other hand, they shun the organisational effort and expense involved when they need to sedate or anesthetise the children in order to achieve an unimpeded workflow. For this, the young patients have to be admitted to the ward with a parent. They also have to have a peripheral venous indwelling cannula inserted and be administered sedatives or anaesthetics.
There is another way